The Personal Story of a South Dakotan Woman Who Had an Abortion

Even Bush, the man whose family used to support Planned Parenthood, says the South Dakota law, which will require a girl who is raped by her father to have the baby, believes the it goes too far:

Bush is "pro-life with three exceptions," McClellan said.

Those exceptions are rape, incest or when a woman's life is endangered. The South Dakota bill only allows abortion in the last case.

"The president believes we ought to be working to build a culture of life in America and we have taken practical, commonsense steps to help reduce the number of abortions in America," McClellan said.

Ah yes, building a culture of life with cluster bombs.

Back to South Dakota. Here's a story about Mrs. X, a woman who never thought she'd ever have an abortion, until she found out her baby had Down syndrome. Her doctor said the baby didn't have a chance at long-term survival and would "never leave the hospital."

"We spent a lot of time crying and praying. We asked ourselves if it was fair to bring a child into the world only to have him live a short life filled with discomfort and pain. Would it also be fair to our firstborn for us to be in the hospital continuously? These are the questions we struggled with and we asked God to guide us."

The couple decided on an abortion, but they were not ready for what lay ahead.

"I guess we thought that it would be different if you were having an abortion for medical reasons. We thought that the procedure would be performed in a hospital, but it wasn't. We were sent to the same abortion office in Amherst that everyone else goes to, the one with the protesters outside," said Mrs. X.

One protester, in particular, drew the ire of Mrs. X and her husband.

"They make them stand out by the road, so you have to drive by them like it's some sort of perp walk. They were all holding signs and reciting prayers. One old woman had a sign that said 'Your baby is healthy, don't kill it.' I wanted to jump out of the car and scream at her, 'No, my baby is not healthy. How dare you suppose such a thing? How dare you judge me?'"

The experience has changed Mrs. X's opinion about the anti-choice, anti-women crowd:

"They paint it as all so simple, so black-and-white. They want a woman to have her baby, no matter the circumstances. Then what? Who will adopt those unwanted babies? Have you ever looked at those adoption ads in the newspaper? 'Couple seeks healthy, white newborn.' What about the unhealthy babies? What about the non-white babies? Who will care for them? I never hear that answer presented."

Mrs. X also has a message for the South Dakota Legislature and, in the near future, the Supreme Court of the United States of America.

"Unless a person has had to lie on that table and feel what it's like to have an abortion, they shouldn't have a say as to what another woman can or cannot do with her body. There is a reason it is called pro-choice. It's because no one is pro-abortion. You can't go through what I did and ever want to have to live through it again."

She continued, "But a woman needs to have a choice, and have it be her and her partner's choice alone, as to what is best in their situation. I pray to God that none of the women holding up those signs in front of abortion clinics are ever put into the position that I was. But if they are, I also pray that they'll still have the right to decide for themselves what they should do."

If the South Dakota law is upheld, women like Mrs. X will be forced to find an abortion provider in another state, but poor women who can't afford to travel and take time off from work will be forced into back alleys.